Tuesday, June 10, 2008

MotoGP: Stoner tests Ducati Desmosedici GP9, is happy with the new bike

The 2009-spec Ducati GP9 features a carbonfibre chassis, instead of earlier Ducatis' steel-tube trellis frames. And Stoner is already going fast on the new bike!

Even though the 2008 MotoGP season is not even halfway through, Ducati are already hard at work on their 2009 racer, the Desmosedici GP9. And the 2009 machine, it seems, is making a radical break from past Ducati racers – instead of the Italian company’s usual steel-tube trellis frame, the GP9 will have a carbonfibre chassis.

Ducati test riders Vittoriano Guareschi and Nicola Canepa have already been testing the GP9 extensively, and Casey Stoner also tested the bike yesterday at Catalunya. On a GP9 shod with race tyres, the reigning MotoGP world champ set a best time of 1:42.632, 0.2secs better than his best lap time in Sunday's grand prix.

With qualifying tyres, Stoner also set the best lap time of the day on his GP9, at 1:41.533secs. ‘The objective was to understand whether this new chassis concept has potential, and I'd say that for now, it looks to be the case,’ said Stoner.

‘We were quickly into some decent times using the same setup as the GP8. We barely changed anything to adapt it to the characteristics of the GP9 and I immediately felt an improvement, so that is positive. I'm sure that with more time to work on it we can go much faster, although that is not the current brief,’ said Stoner.

‘We took the decision to allow the factory riders to test the GP9 because it would have been more difficult at a later stage of development and eventually we'd have had to go backwards in certain areas,’ said Filippo Preziosi, GM, Ducati Corse. ‘There are some things that are possible to analyse with data, but there are other areas where it is absolutely essential to have the riders' opinions. So it was important to get their feedback, to understand if the choices we've made have been the right ones,’ he added.